Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Easy Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe – good soft, chewy, and pillowy cookies bursting with classic rich peanut butter flavor!

We tested lots of different recipes and methods and found the best easy way to make classic chewy peanut butter cookies.

This recipe is our favorite for easy peanut butter cookies – they have that solid rich peanut flavor, are simple, and are loaded with sweet nutty flavor!

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do.

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

There is nothing better than a soft and chewy peanut butter cookie with a crunchy bottom and criss-crossed top, rolled in crunchy sugar. It's nostalgic, sweet, salty, and packed with flavor – and thankfully, crazy easy to whip up.

We know you can love this recipe for classic chewy peanut butter cookies – its one of our favorite cookies recipes because:

• It is crazy easy – no special ingredients or fancy equipment required!
• These peanut butter cookies taste like the old fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies grandma used to make.
• These cookies are soft, chewy, and great to dunk – get a cold glass of milk ready to enjoy them with!

Kitchen notes

This recipe is designed enough to be simple, so even beginner cooks can make it with confidence, but we have found a couple of helpful hints to make your cookies great.

Some of our top tips for making solid, chewy, soft peanut butter cookies that taste like the nostalgic classic bakery style are below:

• You can use butter instead of shortening for this recipe – but the shortening gives the classic chewy peanut butter cookie texture like from a bakery.
• We use butter-flavored shortening for the solid flavor and soft, chewy texture!
• Do not use all-natural peanut butter – the oil ratio is off, and will cause texture problems. This recipe was designed for peanut butters that are not all-natural brands.

Cookies You'll Love

If you're looking for more good easy cookie recipes that we can't get enough of, check out our sugar cookie barsour chewy chocolate chip cookies soft sugar cookiesand our lofthouse style cookies – as well as some of our favorite recent cookies:

You can find our complete cookie recipe archives here. Find our dessert recipe index here.

Recipe FAQs

When are peanut butter cookies done?

Peanut butter cookies are done after 9-12 minutes, when the sides start to turn a light brown color and they look puffy and firmer.

What temperature to bake peanut butter cookies at?

Bake peanut butter cookies at 350 degrees in a well preheated oven for best results.

How long do peanut butter cookies last?

Peanut butter cookies can be stored in an airtight container and kept in a cool, dry place for up to 2 weeks – if they can last that long!

Can peanut butter cookies be frozen?

We like to freeze individual balls of cookie dough for baking later. form dough as you would up to baking (roll it in sugar, and make the criss-cross pattern on the top on top of parchment paper on a baking sheet) – and pop the baking sheet in the freezer, instead of the oven. Once the dough has set after about an hour or two, you can transfer dough balls into a bag together (this way they wont freeze into a giant clump and will be individual cookie shapes instead).
When you want a fresh peanut butter cookie, place it directly on parchment paper and bake like you would a fresh cookie, but for a little bit longer!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

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Ingredients

• ½ cup butter flavored shortening room temp
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 3.4 oz. box instant vanilla pudding mix unprepared
• 2 large eggs
• 1 additional large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup granulated sugar optional coating

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside for later.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter, and sugar together until smooth.
4. Add the unprepared pudding powder, eggs, additional egg yolk, and vanilla, beating after each addition. Beat for about one minute on medium speed until well combined.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
6. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring as you add, ½ cup at a time, and mix until combined.
7. Use a medium sized cookie scoop to measure out the cookie dough into balls, and then roll the dough between your palms.
8. Pour a little granulated sugar on a plate.
9. Roll the balls in granulated sugar.
10. Place the balls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet about two inches apart. Use a fork to gently press the balls flat, making two indents with the fork tines, criss-crossing the marks at the cop of each cookie.
11. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes – when the sides start to gently brown – then let rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.